A daily walk offers photographic payoffs!

One of my projects when I retired was to start every day with a brisk 4 mile walk.  I do the same walk daily, walking through my neighborhood and along sidewalks through some beautiful preserves as well as through a county park that is nearby.  Some of my greatest photo opportunities are during my walk.  For instance during the last week I spotted this mouse on the way home from my walk, but by the time that I was able to retrieve my camera from its holster the animal would skitter off into the brush. It became a game to get it's portrait.  This morning I decided to reverse my walk and try to get this critters' photo at the beginning of my walk.  Victory!  The mouse gave me about 30 seconds of its life for a portrait shoot.

The Yellow Crowned Night Herons have returned to the Park.  I have counted at least 5 pairs recently. I look forward to getting some interesting photos of them during the next few weeks. I know many folks prefer to get their photos with their iPhones, but I really like getting higher resolution photos that I can work with at home.  Both of these photos were taken with my Olympus OMD-EM5ii and an Olympus 40-150mm lens.  The camera is a light Micro 4/3 camera that is easy to carry on my waist in a Think Tank holster.  So, get out there.  Get some exercise  Get some photos. It's amazing how much is available to you virtually in your own backyard!

Patience Improves Bird Photography

Lunch has arrived.

This year I have concentrated on getting interesting, whimsical photos of Florida birds at nesting and birthing times.  To get these shots requires patience, waiting for the right moment when my instincts tell me to release the shutter...many times in bursts to get just the perfect expression from the birds.

 Fish mouth

I was always on the road before sunrise to a few of our researched beach locations.  These were spots where I had previously been and had seen bird activity (mating, nests, eggs, chicks) or where I had received information from other photographers or lovers of wildlife. On one occasion a friend and I traveled by small boat to a barrier island that was known for nesting birds.  Many of the places where I shoot are marked and roped off by the Florida Wildlife Commission and the Audubon Society.  Fortunately, many volunteers spend time at these sites as well to protect the nesting birds.  I always photograph from behind these barriers.

 Black Skimmer Chick with a needle-fish.

Needle-fish seem to be a popular catch for the Skimmers.  On several occasions I have been able to get photos of birds wolfing down these fish.

Lunch with Royal Terns.

Whimsical behavior between the birds makes for some really fun photos that have a lot of impact. Patience is important, but the window for opportunity is important too.  This is a two to three hour opportunity at best.  As the morning temperatures increase and the skies change from blue and clouds to white this usually signals the end of my photography day.  The birds end their fishing and hunker down in their nests with eggs and young. 

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This Time of Year is for the Birds

Male Osprey with catch.

 Birds are nesting in Florida. Chicks are breaking out of their eggs.  And birds are fishing and bringing their catches home to their broods. Here are a few of my recent bird photos from Florida's West Coast.

Black Skimmer with fish.

Welcome home.  Least Tern with fish.

Least Tern hand off.

These photos were taken with two Nikon cameras, the new Nikon D750 full frame camera and a Nikon D7000.  Lenses were the Nikon 200-400mm f4 and the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 with the Nikon 1.7 teleconverter.  It is a good idea to get out now and get these photographs before it gets too hot and the birds go for the shade!

Railroad Photography - Denver

Photographing the railroad has become one of my recent passions.  On one of my recent trips to Colorado I spent the day shooting the recently renovated Union Station in downtown Denver.

The station makes for some great HDR opportunities.  My friend Jim and I were able to talk an influential employee into photographing from upstairs in the station which is now a hotel.  I like shooting from this different perspective.

Converting photographs of old places to black and white offers a nice sense of place to historical buildings.

I love this old original safe on the second floor of Union Station with the stacked suitcases from another era.

The beautiful Denver Union Station upstairs bar (above) and (below) one of the private cars available for corporate or private luxury traveling on the rails.

This is a photo of a poster over the underground pathway that leads from the railroad tracks to the station.  I reversed the photo so that you can read the writing on the top of the poster.

Today the California Zephyr is the only passenger train that goes through Union Station. It's journey takes it from Chicago through Denver to San Francisco.  A scenic trip on the Zephyr is on my bucket list.

All of these photos were taken with the Olympus OMD EM-5 using only one lens, the Olympus 17mm 1.8 lens.  For a future Denver trip I am going to focus on the massive rail yards.  I will appreciate your comments.

Whimsical Fun with a Fisheye Lens

Fisheye lenses aren't for every occasion, but they are certainly a good idea  in certain instances like this one where I wanted to get everything (house, deck and pool) in the photo.  You can even see my shadow in the pool since I got up on top of the slide to take the picture (:g).

I like the way that the fisheye bends the trees in a whimsical fashion.  Hey, if you are looking for an arbor of trees without any luck you can always take along a fisheye and create one!

Fisheyes are great for panorama photos.  Here I wanted to get the old historical building, the beautiful palm trees and a hint of the modern building next door.

In this case I think that the fisheye effect gave the photo of this Mexican restaurant a more tropical feel as the deck and its tiki like umbrellas wrap around the building.

In this fisheye photo of my kitchen I added a white vignette to enhance the effect. My fisheye lens is an 8mm Rokinon (all manual...no auto settings).  I keep the lens set at Infinity and f5.6.  This is a Nikon mount lens.  I used it for these photos on my Nikon D300 camera.  The Rokinon lens is really built strong. It looks great, and the optics are terrific but it costs a pittance of what it's Nikon competitor sells for. Rokinon offers fisheye lenses for other camera bodies as well.  I added one to my wishlist for my Olympus EM-5 too.

 A fisheye is a great lens when you want to give your photography a creative charge.  I like to put mine on the camera,then I leave all of my other lenses in the bag at home and just spend a few hours seeing what I can create with the fisheye. What do you think?

First Look - New Olympus 60mm f3.8 Macro Lens

 My new 60mm (120mm) f2.8 Olympus Macro lens just arrived.  I am sharing a few handheld photos that I took around the house with the lens on my EM-5...all at f2.8.  I have not touched these photos except for cropping.  I was particularly interested in the bokeh that I would get.  Pretty good I think 

I can't wait to get this baby on a tripod and get some photos of flowers.  What do you think?

Sedona Arizona Favorite Photos

Moon rise at Cathedral Rock

Lynn and I just returned from a great week in the Sedona-Cottonwood-Clarkdale, Arizona area.  This is a great spot for beautiful scenery, color and iconic southwest photo ops.  The photo of the moon rise at Cathedral Rock is an HDR.  The moon rise over the mountain makes it special.  I am thankful to an Arizona photographer that was shooting beside me for this rare opportunity.  I was ready to pack up my gear when the fellow next to me suggested that I might want to wait another minute or two...and voila...this is the scene that I was able to get.  My mystery friend said that he consults the iPhone app The Photographer's Ephemeris for the position of the full moon rising.  He drives from Flagstaff to Sedona upon every full moon to get the photo that I was lucky enough to stumble upon!

Sunset over Hangover Mountain

We took a 4 wheel drive trip up Schebley Hill Road in one of the Sedona iconic Pink Jeeps.  This might sound like an easy trip, but as soon as you leave the pavement you are on a non-maintained road that is about as bumpy as you will ever see.  Don't attempt this in anything but a 4 wheel drive vehicle with plenty of clearance.  There was still some mild smoke from the recent forest fires hanging over the mountains, but I was thrilled to get this sunset photo from the 6,000 foot summit.

The train station at Clarkdale is just a 30 minute drive from Sedona.  This is where the Verde Valley Railroad begins its 4 hour round trip journey along the Verde River to Perkinsville.  I love this 1940s era railroad.  You can buy an Economy Class ticket and shoot your heart out from the open, but covered cars that are next to every enclosed car.  The high desert scenery is magnificent and you just might see a bald eagle in flight.  

Sedona-Cottonwood-Clarkdale - It is paradise for the photographer.

Home Town Photos.

Safety Harbor Gazebo

I have found that some of the best photo opportunities are right here in my own backyard.  I try to pass through the historic Main Street in Safety Harbor near my home at least once a day to get ideas for photo projects.  I have been photographing the Safety Harbor Gazebo in John Wilson Park for many years. The city does a beautiful job of  rotating the flowers in front of the Gazebo seasonally.

Yesterday, during my visit to town I spotted this beautiful new planting and just felt the necessity to photograph this scene with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1, my tiny go-everywhere camera.  This camera also is my constant companion on my daily walks.  It is amazing the different things that I have photographed right in my own backyard...wildlife, landscapes, architecture, people and flowers.

 Butterfly on Red Flowers

The photo above was taken at a new park in town, Mullet Creek Nature Park. The local garden club is doing a great job in keeping the flowering plants blooming.

Neighborhood Sunrise

This sunrise photo was taken literally outside of my front door.  I was out just before sunrise to pick up the newspaper when I spotted this incredible sunrise.  I knew that I only had seconds before this scene would be gone.  I ran in the house and grabbed the Panasonic DMC-LF1 and took this picture just an instant before this beautiful scene disappeared. 

Learn your neighborhood...Walk around...Get some great photographs.

Africa in Monochrome

Recently I began a project that involved creating many of my nature images that I took while on several Africa safaris into monochrome images.

It is fun and sometimes it is rewarding to go back to your earlier photos and try to do something unique with them.  I think that the monochrome treatment offers that opportunity.

I use both Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 as well as One On Software's Perfect Black & White program in conjunction with Lightroom and Photoshop to get the best creative images from the color rendition.

Vervet Monkey 

Bat Eared Fox

All of these images were taken in Kenya, but these are just a few of my conversions.  I have many thousands of wildlife images from all over southern Africa.  I know that this endeavor should keep me busy for quite a while.

It's a great time for bird photography!

Tri-color Heron with egg.

This is the best time in Florida to take photos of birds on the nest, eggs and chicks.

Great Blue Heron with Tilapia.

This is my favorite image in a series of many bird photos. My interest was in getting the eye of the Heron and the the eye of the Tilapia in focus.  I was thrilled when I previewed this photo and noticed  that I got the bonus of the water dripping off of the nose of the fish.

Great Blue Heron chick.

It was tough getting a good photo of the chicks since they were nearly hidden in the nest and in deep shadows.  I like this photo with just the profile of the mother bird hovering over the baby.

Cormorant chicks.

It is hard to believe that one day these Cormorant chicks will be coal black one day. All of these shots were taken at Gatorland, near Orlando, Florida. 

Florida West Coast Sunrise

Photographing sunrises and sunsets is mostly the luck of the draw.  The important thing is to be in the right place at the right time.  I primarily shoot sunrises since I can coordinate my daily morning walks with the rising sun.  To get the sun rising over the water on Florida's West Coast I take my shots as the sun rises over Tampa Bay. Most of my sunrise photos are taken not with my big heavy DSLR, but rather with a compact camera or in the following case...an iPhone.

You will also notice that I always have something in the foreground on my sunrise shots...a tree, a boulder or another complimentary object.  The sun by itself is seldom interesting. It is fun to tinker with sunrise photos. Sunrises offer a good opportunity to use enhancement software like Nik (Google) Color Efex Pro, On One's Perfect photo or the iPhone app Snapseed.  The above photo is the original untouched photo.  The following 2 pictures are enhancements of this same photo. 

Have fun.  Get some exercise and get your sunrise photos.  Your thoughts?

Brooksville Raid Photos for Triptych

The couple above are reenactors at the Brooksville Raid that was held January 18-19 near Brooksville, Florida.  I was told by the lady pictured that they were renewing their vows at the event.  I captured these three images and converted them in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.  This is a work in progress, but wouldn't this make a really neat verticle triptych?  Your thoughts?